QGIS 2.18 "Las Palmas"
03.11.2016 12:14 · GIS · qgis, release
The release of QGIS 2.18 “Las Palmas” has been announced.
QGIS is a free and open-source geographic information system (GIS) running on Linux, Unix, Mac OS X and Windows. This release is named after the city of Las Palmas, where the QGIS developer meeting took place in November 2015.
This is the last release in the 2.x series. Development efforts are now focused on QGIS 3, which is scheduled for release at the end of the first quarter of 2017. QGIS 2.14.x remains the current release with long-term support and it will be maintained until the next LTR version based on QGIS 3 is released.
The full list of changes can be found here, but most users will find the visual changelog more informative. The most important and notable changes are listed below.
General
Added support for hyperlinks in the Identify Results panel. Any http and mailto links inside attributes are automatically converted to hyperlinks and can be opened in a browser.
It is now possible to add custom colour schemes to the colour button drop down menu. This option can be enabled for each colour scheme individually, making frequently used palettes easily accessible from the colour menu.
The Colour Picker dialogue box now opens within the Style panel rather than as a separate dialogue box. As a result, any colour change is immediately previewed on a map canvas.
Raster tiles from WMTS and XYZ data sources are rendered as soon as they are downloaded. Previously downloaded tiles from lower or higher zoom levels can also be used for preview purposes in places where tiles with the correct resolution have not yet been downloaded.
Data providers
Added native support for XYZ raster tiles. This allows users to use basemaps without 3rd party plugins such as OpenLayers.
Rendering of raster layers can be cancelled at any time. This is particularly useful when working with raster data from remote servers, e.g., WMS, WMTS, WCS or XYZ layers.
The Offline Editing plugin can now copy only selected features to the offline database, reducing its size if you do not need to work with the entire layer.
API
The new lineLocatePoint() method of the QgsGeometry class to calculate the distance representing the location along this line of the nearest point on this line geometry to the specified point.
Added new classes (QgsAnnotaion, QgsFeedback and QgsOptionalExpression) and widgets (QgsExpressionLineEdit and QgsTabWidget).
Several new expression functions have been added, including angle and distance interpolation functions.
Processing
The Clip algorithm has been optimised for common use scenarios, resulting in dramatic speedups for clipping operations.
New algorithms have been added: Point on surface, Bounding boxes, Merge connected lines and Geometry boundary.
Symbology
Added the ability to define a list of text substitutions to apply to label text. Substitutions can be imported and exported for easy sharing and re-use.
Significantly improved parallel line labelling mode to avoid label placement over jagged parts of geometry.
A new polygon labelling mode has been added where the polygon perimeter is labelled using curved labelling.